Posted on 08/21/2008 5:34:49 AM PDT by pissant
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.
"I think - I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told us in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where - I'll have them get to you."
The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, according to his staff. Newsweek estimated this summer that the couple owns at least seven properties.
In recent weeks, Democrats have stepped up their effort to caricature McCain as living an outlandishly rich lifestyle – a bit of payback to the GOP for portraying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as an elitist, and for turning the spotlight in 2004 on the five homes owned by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
Pro-Obama labor groups have sent out mailers highlighting McCain’s wealth, and prominent Democrats have included references to it in comments to reporters.
Twice in the past two weeks, those Democrats have focused on McCain’s houses.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told Politico’s Ben Smith that it was McCain “who wears $500 shoes, has six houses, and comes from one of the richest families in his state."
And David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, referred in an interview with Adam Nagourney of The New York Times to an imagined meeting of McCain strategists “on the portico of the McCain estate in Sedona — or maybe in one of his six other houses.”
McCain’s comments came four days after he initially told Pastor Rick Warren during a faith forum on Sunday his threshold for considering someone rich is $5 million — a careless comment he quickly corrected.
In the interview, McCain did not offer an alternative number, but had a new answer ready.
“I define rich in other ways besides income,” he said. “Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they’re billionaires.”
McCain, by anyone's measure, is well off if you include his wife's fortune. Cindy McCain inherited control of her father’s beer distributorship, the largest in Arizona, and has an estimated worth of over $100 million.
Will we show everyone just the one poor shack that man-of-the people Obama owns?
Prov. 14 [24] The crown of the wise is their riches ....
More homes than he knows for certain? Sounds like a plus to me. FRegards ....
And David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, referred in an interview with Adam Nagourney of The New York Times to an imagined meeting of McCain strategists “on the portico of the McCain estate in Sedona — or maybe in one of his six other houses.”
Funny, but I don't remember democrats mentioning how many homes John Kerry owned when he ran for President. I must have just not noticed.
You mean the Rezko Palace?
Maybe BO could spring his brother a twenty?
Oh, Brother.
Ask my husband how many outbuildings we have on our farm; he can’t tell ya. Ask him how many chickens we have in our current flock; he can’t tell ya. Ask him where his car keys are each morning; he can’t tell ya. However, he’s of near-Mensa level intelligence. Go figure.
‘Housekeeping’ is the wife’s responsibility, no matter how many houses her husband has provided for her. ;)
Yep. That’s really relevant to this nation’s issues.
That’s what I’m thinking. We want someone who knows how to take care of Business.
After McCain spent years in the Hanoi Hilton, I’m glad for him.
I’d rather support a guy who owns a hundred homes scandal free than a guy who wheels and deals with Rezco for his one estate.
“Funny, but I don’t remember democrats mentioning how many homes John Kerry owned when he ran for President. I must have just not noticed.”
Or JFK!!!
Obama’s campaign shouldn’t lean too heavily on the question of real estate, in my opinion.
We get so confused that we forget the ones on the Riviera, Capri, Malibu and that little shack in Kennybunkport.
Many of the 535 idiots useful to international socialism have that problem as they have so much money they know that it can't all be taken away by the tax hogs.
(Of course my good wife doesn't have one of the largest Anheiser-Busch distributorships in the world.
“Ask him where his car keys are each morning; he can’t tell ya.”
I used to have that problem myself. I once had a nightmare of not being able to find my suit and tie. I dreamed of calling the general manager: “I can’t find my suit. I’ll have to wear jeans, and I’m already late.”
He was not the polite type— cussed like a sailor when he was mad. What a nightmare!
"Senator, I've always thought that a man who knew how much he was worth wasn't worth very much."
Obviously, Hunt was a Texan.
If this is the best David Axelrod can do to counter McCain’s very effective attacks on the messiah then Ax is a joke and Obama hasn’t got a clue. Oh yeah, if Obambi names Biden or Bayh as his running mate this argument will go right out the window, both dem senators come from very wealthy families.
I guess these people have no concept of “investment property”.
I know several people that couldn’t tell you for sure how many properties they own at this moment.
What bothers me is that this is common for our ‘public servants’...think Algore, or JFKerry. In McCain’s defense, he could have been trying to figure out how many were in HIS name, not Cindy’s or his first wife’s.
Still, it is incredibly stupid of McCain not to know something like this, or how many cars he owns, etc. It IS rather hard to relate to someone who doesn’t know how many homes he owns, or to someone who has business friends buy property for him.
MSM will probably give it way more press than Obama’s huge defeat at Saddleback.
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